Panchayati Raj (73rd/74th Amendments)
Local government became constitutional in 1992. Two amendments, two new parts, two new schedules — one set for villages and one for towns. Nearly every question here is really asking you to keep the two sets apart.
Mental model
73rd = RURAL (gram / village), 74th = URBAN (nagar / city). Both are 1992 Amendments, both took effect in 1993, and each added one new Part and one new Schedule — Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule (29 subjects) for panchayats, Part IXA and the Twelfth Schedule (18 subjects) for municipalities. If you remember 73-before-74 = village-before-city, the rest hangs off it. Inside the rural structure think three tiers by size: Gram Panchayat (village) → Panchayat Samiti / Taluka Panchayat (intermediate) → Zilla Panchayat (district); the intermediate tier may be skipped in states with under twenty lakh population. On the urban side, three types by size again: Nagar Panchayat (transitional area) → Municipal Council (smaller urban) → Municipal Corporation (larger urban). Gujarat's own hook: Balwantrai Mehta, who chaired the 1957 committee that first recommended democratic decentralisation, was from Gujarat and later became its Chief Minister.
Associations
A short trigger on the left, everything it pulls with it on the right.
73rd = village = Part IX = Eleventh Schedule = 29 subjects.
And its mirror: 74th = town = Part IXA = Twelfth Schedule = 18 subjects. Learn the two chains as wholes and no part of this topic can be confused — the numbers always travel together.
Balwantrai Mehta gave the three tiers.
The Balwantrai Mehta Committee of 1957 recommended a three-tier structure — village panchayat, panchayat samiti, zila parishad — and 'democratic decentralisation'. Later the Ashok Mehta Committee proposed a two-tier structure, and the L. M. Singhvi Committee recommended constitutional status, which is what finally happened in 1992.
Things to remember
The night-before list. Short enough to recall cold.
- 1The 73rd and 74th Amendments were passed in 1992 and came into force in 1993.
- 2A three-tier panchayat structure is mandatory for states with a population above twenty lakh.
- 3At least one-third of seats and of chairperson posts are reserved for women; several states including Gujarat have raised this to fifty per cent.
- 4Every panchayat has a five-year term; elections are conducted by a State Election Commission, and a State Finance Commission reviews panchayat finances every five years.
- 5The gram sabha is the body of all registered voters of a village — the constitutional base of the whole structure.
- 6Rajasthan was the first state to inaugurate panchayati raj, in 1959; Gujarat's own panchayati raj system began in the early 1960s.
In detail
- The Balwantrai Mehta Committee (1957) recommended a three-tier panchayati raj, and Rajasthan was the first state to inaugurate it, at Nagaur in 1959.
- The 73rd Amendment added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule with 29 subjects; the 74th added Part IXA and the Twelfth Schedule with 18 subjects.
- Panchayats have a fixed five-year term, elections are conducted by the State Election Commission, and a State Finance Commission is constituted every five years to review their finances.
- The Amendments reserve not less than one-third of seats for women and reserve seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population; the minimum age to contest is 21 years.
- The Gram Sabha, consisting of all registered voters of a village, is the constitutional foundation of the panchayati raj system.
- Gujarat's panchayat system runs on the state's own Panchayats Act, and the state has run schemes such as Samras Gram Yojana encouraging unopposed panchayat elections.
Where people slip
- The Eleventh Schedule (29 subjects) belongs to panchayats and the Twelfth (18 subjects) to municipalities. Swapping the two is the classic error.
- One-third reservation for women is the constitutional minimum, not the maximum. A state raising it to half is acting within the Constitution.
Check yourself
Nothing here is scored — it will not change your mastery figures.
The Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution, added by the 73rd Amendment, lists how many subjects?
From the question bank
The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, which gave constitutional status to Panchayati Raj Institutions, inserted which new Part into the Constitution?
From the question bank
In which year was the Gujarat Panchayats Act enacted to implement the 73rd Constitutional Amendment in the State of Gujarat?
Books to read
- NCERT Class XI — Indian Constitution at Work
- Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth
- Standard Gujarat state board civics textbook (local self-government)
Official sources
Hand-checked official domains only — the notes above carry no links of their own.